June 30th, 2008
Author: Michael Krotscheck
Category: Articles
Tags: flash, flex, javascript, ria, rna
I had an excellent discussion with my coworker Susan today about refining certain internal processes, and one of the tangents of the conversation went off on what the actual definition of a Rich Internet Application actually was. As we know, anything from a banner ad to a product configurator can be considered an RIA, and the only common element seemed to be that an RIA retains its functionality within the context of what the user is interacting with. In other words, if you click on button in an RIA, the resulting action does not significantly change the page or window the user is interacting with; Clicking to go to a new page loses context, using an animated accordion to display different content does not.
The similarities, though, end there. Implementation varies, technology varies, scope and location and functionality varies, and all in all it ends up being a pretty difficult convoluted mess to describe. At best you can group them via complexity, and after a brief exercise of that nature we realized that a new breed of networked application was emerging. Well, alright, perhaps not emerging, but instead gaining momentum and acceptance in the mainstream. Here’s the scale, see if you agree with our reasoning.
No Comments | Read More »
January 14th, 2008
Author: Michael Krotscheck
Category: Libraries
Tags: actionscript, flash, flex, javascript, SCORM
The SCORMJavascriptConnector acts as a transparent implementation of the SCORM RTE API. Its intent is to be a ‘dumb’ connection bridge that automatically generates any necessary communication javascript within the encapsulating HTML DOM, finds the LMS API, and passes information back and forth from the same. Note that this class is written with the assumption that a SCO developer may choose to call Initialize(”") and Terminate(”") from a different location or instance of this class, and so does no connectivity checking or automatic state management. Documentation for the individual functions derived from the SCORM 2004 3rd Edition Runtime Environment Documentation available at http://www.adlnet.gov/.
No Comments | Read More »
December 12th, 2007
Author: Michael Krotscheck
Category: Tutorials
Tags: actionscript, javascript
Every Actionscript Developer will sooner or later have to interface with the webpage in which his .swf is presented, and Adobe has provided the ExternalInterface Class to simplify this process. Even so, communicating with an external javascript API almost inevitably requires some number of bridging functions to properly couple the two runtime environments. In cases where the developer has control over both environments this poses no further problems, as for example in an application where the .swf takes animation and event cue’s from an interface written largely in HTML. Some instances nevertheless remain where we don’t have that luxury, and are writing to an external API that we can neither guarantee nor contribute to; In short, we cannot add a javascript file to the HTML wrapper that will act as our translation bridge.
No Comments | Read More »
December 12th, 2007
Author: Michael Krotscheck
Category: Libraries
Tags: actionscript, flash, flex, javascript, Libraries
The JavascriptController class simplifies many operations that a developer would use to access and interface with the javascript environment. Setting variables on an instance of this class automatically passes through to the javascript environment and back. Similarly, calling methods on an instance of this class calls a method of the same name in the encapsulating HTML. Additionally, you can use this class to write methods into the javascript environment by using the registerMethod() method. Please be aware of the security restrictions imposed by the method in which the flash file is embedded in the HTML page.
No Comments | Read More »
